Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

School chiefs dismiss Ohio report cards

Miffed, irked, nettled and peeved — that’s how some school officials feel about the state report cards released on Thursday.

The cards contain information on how well students did on state tests; how schools got and spent their money; and how well they managed the gaps between different subgroups of students, such as gifted students or those with disabilities.

Each school and district got A-F grades for up to 10 individual categories.

The district pays for another assessment, Measures of Academic Progress, which tests students on reading and math.

Hile said Thursday afternoon he hadn’t looked at the district’s scores and didn’t plan on looking at them later because he doesn’t think the state tests offer an accurate assessment of students progress and abilities.

Even though Granville Exempted Village Schools had some of the best scores in the county, Superintendent Jeff Brown criticized the data, which is from the 2014-15 school year.

“The results are completely irrelevant to the point that the data is 11/2 years old,” Brown said. “This is the definition of an autopsy in that the results are dead on arrival.”

Shortly after scores were released Thursday morning, Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, and A.J. Wagner, a member of the state board of education, held a press conference blasting the results. Wagner, a Democrat, urged students, parents and teachers to ignore them.

“These report cards are not just inaccurate,” he said. “They are harmful to our children, our schools and our communities.”

Ohio’s report cards came in two batches this year: the first round in mid-January and the second on Thursday. Normally, they come out all at once in August or September, but this year was delayed and divided because of Ohio’s one-year dance with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

PARCC, which has since been scrapped, drew the ire of parents, politicians and school officials. Ohio is using another new test this school year — from the American Institutes for Research — but the next round of report cards will be released all at once and at the normal time, said Chris Woolard, with the Ohio Department of Education.

This past year, Woolard said, was a one-off, “unusual situation.” PARCC is gone, but it was tied directly to Common Core, which is still in place. So, Woolard said, the report cards are a chance for everyone to get acquainted with the new, higher bar.

“Obviously, there have been a lot of challenges the past year with the transition to new tests,” Woolard said. But “this is still incredibly useful information for educators, communities and parents.”

Doug Ute, Newark City Schools’ superintendent, said he was pleased with the districts A’s in the four value added categories. He said the district keeps all the scores in perspective.

“They don’t really show how effective you are in a school district,” he said.

Statewide, only six out of 609 school districts got an A in performance index, a measure of how well students scored on PARCC tests. None of those were in Licking County.

Districts across the state also struggled with the K-3 literacy grade, a measure of improvement among struggling readers.

State officials say Ohio’s standards are higher now, so it’s normal for scores to be lower. Some school officials, though, say the metrics are bogus. In fact, more than 60 school districts throughout the state released their own assessments months ago called Quality Profiles.

Trevor Thomas, the superintendent for Heath City Schools, said he was bothered by the district’s F’s in the value added measure.

“Are we where we need to be? No,” Thomas said.

He added he too has questions about the accuracy of the assessments, but said they are good for district administrators to see.

Southwest Licking Assistant Superintendent Kasey Rathburn attributed the low scores to multiple issues, including the PARCC tests, which the district used for all five measures on which it received an F-letter grade.

"Last year, we had an A for students with disabilities, an A for the lowest 20 percent (in achievement), and now, after one year of that test we have F's," Rathburn said. "I guess I'm questioning the PARCC tests."

Rathburn added she feels confident the district, which switched to the American Institutes for Research assessments for the current school year, will have better scores when this year’s data is released.

When Brown was asked how he would grade the grading process, Brown said the state wouldn’t pass.